Laws that require businesses to seek users' permission before they collect or use data about Web-surfing habits could kill this goose, they say. And why do that, industry execs ask, when they are making such fine strides in protecting consumer privacy? As a positive sign, Net businesses trumpet a May, 1999, Federal Trade Commission survey in which 66% of companies queried had privacy policies.

CONSENT REQUIREMENTS WOULD DESTROY ALL THE BENEFITS OF INFORMATION UTILIZATION

Solveig Singleton, director of information studies at the Cato Institute, January 22, 1998 Cato Policy Analysis No. 295 PRIVACY AS CENSORSHIP: A Skeptical View of Proposals to Regulate Privacy in the Private Sector

Suppose that policymakers set the default rule for the collection of information such as names and addresses so that consumers had to give their explicit consent to use such information. If a substantial number of customers refused to allow information about them to be transferred to third parties (or simply did not bother to opt in), lists would cost more or disappear altogether. One article predicts that under an opt-in regime the compilation of information would be taken over by "only a handful of companies with unique brand franchises, strong relationships with their customers, or radically new strategies."(61) Developments in Europe, where regulations strictly limit the transfer of personal information, suggest that a mandatory opt-in regime would nearly wipe out direct marketing.(62)